Metal Mouth Message Board

I went in for my fifth adjustment today. I knew I was going to get one new bracket. The ortho looked at me for a very long time. I mean a really long time. Then he told the assistant to take off 5 brackets! So I got the dubious pleasure of finding out what it is like to have brackets taken off. I didn't feel a thing. The grinding off of the glue was pretty unpleasant. There was one tooth that was really sensitive and I told her to stop - right when she was done anyway.

Then I got even more fun thrown my way and got to have the big lip separator thing put back and, more glue going down the back of my throat, etc.

I asked the ortho how much longer I have in braces and he couldn't tell me. 12 months? 18 months?

I am beginning to think that my teeth were just a whole lot worse than I ever thought they were. I am still in the first wire on the bottom after 7+ months! He told me I have 3 wires left on the bottom and two on top.

I am also beginning to think that rotations are very hard to overcome. Crowding is not so bad, but rotations take a while.

Does anyone else have any stories about rotated teeth and how long they took? My front bottom tooth was rotated almost 180.

Oh, yeah the repositioning is to help with leveling of my bottom teeth. My canines are way to low, so he lowered the brackets to pull them up. He also said my canine is rotated. Who knew?

I am also now starting to notice everyone's bottom teeth now. Like when I am watching TV. To be honest it was never a concern to me but now I realize how much they show when you talk.

Hi KK,

Yes, it was quite an adjustment! I can already see the teeth responding to the new bracket position. I will have some upper brackets repositioned later too.

I think we have our adjustments around the same time!

The positive thing about my latest adjustment is that I am coming around to the realization that I am in this for the long haul. I mean I really didn't think my teeth were that bad and thought the estimates were high. Me being silly!

jcdamon3-sorry to hear about your difficult adjustment. It's hard when you really aren't expecting it. As for the rotation, I had one tooth that was between 90 and 180 degrees rotated. It took about six or seven months for it to come around. But I remember thinking it happened a lot faster than I expected it to. It was like one day it was rotated and the next it was straight. Hang in there it will happen.

By the way if you don't mind my asking, where in the Bay Area are you? I'm up in the North/East Bay, Vallejo/Fairfield area. My ortho is in Vallejo.

Amy
Damon 2's top and bottom
braced 12-16-04

I am in the South Bay, San Jose vicinity.

My rotation seems to just go bit by bit... The change has been constant and slow.

Well, just hang in there. Once my rotation was done, everything seemed to just move so much faster. I made a huge jump in wires and we worked on closing gaps (the gaps had been created to give the tooth room to rotate). Now after 14 months we are correting my midline and settling everything down for debanding!! Next adjustment in April 11th. Hoping for really good news.

Amy
Damon 2's top and bottom
braced 12-16-04

He didn't tell me why but the last three times I've been to the ortho he has repositioned brackets. 4 the first time, 2 the next time, then 3 this last time. The worst part for me is the glueing them back on....

It was kind of fun and disappointing to see them again when he took the four off of my front bottom teeth . They look HUGE without the brackets. I thought they would look so straight, but they don't. They are straight if you look down at the top of them (like they are lined up), but looking straight on at them they are going every which way. Lot of work left to do.

I have two that are being rotated and those are definitely the slowest going.